News Topic: Too Big to Fail (TBTF)

Some thoughts on the new rules for broker-dealer OLA cases, over at Dealb%k . ... Read full article

My ears perk up whenever I hear the musical words "synthetic collateralized debt offering". (Bill Bratton and I did write the paper on history of these crazy things , after all....) So, it was with interest that I read a Wall Street Journal ... Read full article

One of the many creatures attempting to crawl its way onto the back of the omnibus appropriations bill is an amendment to the Trust Indenture Act.  The Trust Indenture Act is the 1939 securities law that is the major protection for bondholders. Among ... Read full article

The financial wonkosphere just doesn't get it about Glass-Steagall.  Pieces like this one by Matt O'Brien  concentrate on the questions of whether Glass-Steagall would have prevented the last crisis or whether it is better than other approaches ... Read full article

There’s an interesting new article  out on the celebrated Massachusetts U.S. Bank v. Ibanez   case that suggests that the defendant, Antonio Ibanez, was at the center of a property fraud ring. It's not clear to me that there was anything illegal ... Read full article

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It was like eight nights of Chanukkah in one for me watching the Democratic debate last night. There was a Glass-Steagal lovefest going on. But here's the thing:   no one seems to get why Glass-Steagal was important or the connection between ... Read full article

A new book out by University of Minnesota Law Professors Claire Hill and Richard Painter proposes a really intriguing proposal for disciplining wayward financial services firms: "covenant banking." The problem, as Hill  and Painter observe, is ... Read full article

Or a bit of this this and that. ... Read full article

In a recent case called Madden v. Marine Midland Funding , the Second Circuit ruled that a loan owned by a debt collector violated New York's usury statute.  The loan had been originally made by a national bank and was subsequently sold to the debt ... Read full article

I agree with Adam about all that post- Starr hyperventilation . No, it does not mean that bailouts are over, that the Fed has been slapped down, or any of that lurid stuff. ... Read full article

Andrew Ross Sorkin is waiving his arms about the Starr v. Board of Governors ruling being the "end of bailouts." And he is SO wrong.  Sorkin writes that "Legal experts say that the ruling, coupled with certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank ... Read full article

Senator Warren has written a pretty stinging rebuke of the ineffectiveness of Mary Jo White as SEC Chair. The take-away from Senator Warren's letter is that it's time for MJW to go: the SEC needs new and effective leadership. The SEC was asleep ... Read full article

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Bank of America in  Caulkett v. Bank of America . Basically the Court found itself bound by its previous decision in  Dewsnup  and didn't think that any of the distinctions presented (by yours truly ... Read full article

Over at Dealb%k, I argue that section 117 of Dodd-Frank is more Siouxsie and the Banshees than Eagles. ... Read full article

Our former co-blogger, Senator Elizabeth Warren, delivered an incredibly important speech yesterday laying out the work still to be done on financial reform. This speech is a bigger deal than Senator Warren's Antonio Weiss speech or her famous ... Read full article

The Wall Street Journal ran a story today about H. Rodgin Cohen, the Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell and "one of Wall Street's top lawyers" decrying "the myth of regulatory capture." All I can say is wow. That's ... Read full article

I'm testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday at a hearing entitled " Preserving Consumer Choice and Financial Independence ." I'm the only non-industry witness (no surprise there). ... Read full article